The Antareans are back to raise some havoc in your Master of Orion game, along with some new races and minor civilizations in the just-released Rvenge of Antares DLC. In addition, a new v54.6 patch is out offering a major revamp to some game mechanics.

The DLC offers three new playable races - the aquatic Trilarians, the Gnolam traders, and the xenophobic Elerians. Even if you choose not to purchase the races for $9.99 each, you will still encounter them in the game as possible AI races in single-player. In addition, several new minor races have been added. They are non-spacefaring races confined to a single planet, but they give bonuses to each planet settled in their system, be it food, money or research.

The Antareans are a pain in the butt, coming from wormholes they create from another dimenion. They will send huge fleets (based on how far along the game is) to target player or NPC fleets or planets. It isn't hard to lose an armada if you don't have solid back up.

Also, hero units have been added as leaders or governors. They can be ship captains, offering specific bonuses to a ship, or planet-based politicians providing expertise in controlling morale, boosting production or even managing pollution.

Finally, the patch overhauls espionage and actually makes it a bit easier to control. Once the Spy Center is built, spies don't automatically pop out waiting for assignment. You need to purchase each one. The interface is also a bit cleaner and simpler.

I played this a bit last night and find that the changes and modifications make the game even more addicting than it was previously. Definitely a solid addition to the base game.

Here is a complete list of changes for the patch. The patch does come with a warning about old saves and mods: "Due to the heavy gameplay modifications, your old savegames won’t be loadable once you update the Master of Orion client. In order to allow you to finish your ongoing games we have enabled a Steam Branch which contains the build 51.3, you can access it by going to the game properties/betas and selecting the option 'version51 — Pollution and Gravity Update.' Also, please be advised that old mods may cause issues with the new version of Master of Orion, so you may need to update them (if a new version is available) or deactivate them."

AI

• Improved evaluation of planet rating for better deal evaluation 
• Improved invasion analysis and execution 
• Improved Opportunity Rating and Opportunity Threshold analysis 
• The AI is now better at handling its Command Points at an Empire level 
• The AI is now better at organizing its defenses 
• Decreased colony ship output 
• Improved war possibility factor analysis regarding economic considerations

Balance

• Pollution:
  • Pollution Processor cleaning effect increased from 10 to 15 
  • Core Waste Dump cleaning effect increased from 100 to 150 
  • Pollution absorption for Barren biomes increased to 60 (previous 30)
• Rebalanced Peaceful and Militaristic traits. 
• Rebalanced Research speeds:
  • Research cell output increased from 2 to 3. 
  • Techtree nodes cost increased by 33%.
• Rebalanced share charts costs. 
• Creative perk research bonus increased to +50% 
• Pollution Processor moved to Molecular Compression Technode. Core Waste dump cleaning value increased

General

• Technologies that do not belong to a race’s techtree or are void because of Victory Conditions selection no longer appear in the techtree 
• Recyclotron structure added

Tactical

• Added Ramming 
• Improved AIs selection of opening moves when entering combat 
• Improved battlefield hazard generations better selection algorithm plus more quantity and diversity

SFX

• Added new charging sound 
• Added notification sounds 
• Intro sounds added for: Amoeba, Eel, Squid and Dragon. 
• Updated Warp sound

UX

• Economic Victory conditions graph improvements 
• The production queue is now fully functional 
• Added info during Cinematic battles for easier reference 
• Improved selection and formations visuals and feedback 
• New battle log with more information 
• Added Range Day indicator 
• Added "requires" field to Tech Applications 
• Added scientific victory requirement to scientific victory tech apps 
• Added and revised several tooltips 
• Use full empire name instead of race name in the title of espionage attack report 
• Hide view planet button in mission debriefing for empire missions 
• Integrated agent captured popup

Bug Fixes

• Blanding error at the end of "new tech added" 
• Fixed inconsistencies between a monster destruction event and text 
• Fix for bombing flow AI attacks player’s colony 
• Fix for Escape button sometimes not responding 
• Fix for the game locking up/infinite processing turn after encountering the first race 
• Fix for an unusual softlock in strategy mode 
• Fix for Blueprint changes not being saved 
• Localization fix for: Key for 'Toggle Auto-turn' not ticking Auto-turn checkbox 
• Localization fix for old Pollution Immunity perk description in custom races 
• Fix for Missing key at Empire selection pop-up 
• Fix for a grammatical error in notifications appearing after annual payment agreement ends 
• Fix for negotiate button taking the player to a normal audience 
• Fix for upgrade button disappearing when editing a blueprint name after unlocking an upgrade 
• Fix for the Upgrade blueprints button appearing even when there’s is nothing to upgrade 
• Added Imminent biome degradation notification 
• Biome degradation now happens at the correct time 
• Colony production grid distribution fixed 
• Fix for incorrect food delta in colonies when polluted 
• Pollution Cleaning structures now are shown in pollution tooltip 
• Fix for subterranean farms not updating tile value in food line 
• Fix for incorrect production values showing after building the neutron collider 
• Fix for production speed, now it affects production costs instead of productive output 
• Difficulty level (production bonus for AI) is now calculated properly. Added additional cleanup per AI difficulty 
• Fix for weapons not being selectable after selecting an enemy 
• Fixes for some issues on specials and squadrons info update 
• Fixed several issues related to selecting multiple ships and giving them orders 
• Fixed automatic toggle on weapons when receiving a general/weapon focus order 
• Fixed tooltips for modules that don’t have a weapon type 
• Fix for hotkeys being enabled in the tutorial that could guide the player into an incorrect flow 
• Autorepair achievement icon art fixed 
• Fix for tooltip displaying incorrect security level information 
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Amoeba from attacking in tactical battles 
• Fix for inconsistency in a tech bonus in two different languages